Apparatus for supplying paper to printing-presses.



c. n. LYON.

APPARATUS FOR SUPPLYING PAPER T0 PRINTING PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 6. 1914.

Patented July 27, 1915.

5 SHEETS-SHEET l.

ml 1 in; v z 63 WW MN MALL, CHARLES 0. Ava/v,

COLUMBIA rLANunRAM-l co.. WASHINGTON. n: c.

Qm E S S E D P G N T N R P 0 NR 0 Y A L 6 U Y C P P U S R 0 F S U T A RA P D1 2 APPLICATION FILED JULY 6,1914.

Patented July 27, 1915 5 SHEETS-SHEET 2 63 CHARLES 0.10 0

COLUMHIA PLANOGRAPH CO.,\VASIHNGTON. D. c.

C. D. LYON.

APPARATUS FOR SUPPLYING PAPER T0 PRINTING PRESSES.

APPLICATlON FILED JULY 6, 19M.

Patented July 27, 1915.

5 SHEETSSHEET 3.

al WW COLUMBIA PLANCIGRAPH c0, WASl-HNGTON, 1). c4

C. D. LYON.

APPARATUS FOR SUPPLYING PAPER T0 PRINTING PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 6. 1914.

1 1,242., Patented July 27, 1915.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

C. D. LYON. APPARATUS FOR SUPPLYING PAPER T0 PRINTING PRESSES.

I APPLICATION FILED JULY 6. I914. 1 1 Patented July 27, 1915.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

9 715 M H- 5 U 1 d 5 3V a Q1 3W CHA E6 0. .Yo/v,

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH c0., WASHINGTON, D- c.

CHARLES DOWNEY LYON, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

APPARATUS FOR SUPPLYING PAPER TO PRINTING-PRESSES.

1,1d&242.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 27, 1915.

Application filed July 6, 1914. Serial No. 849,191.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES DowNnY LYON, acitizen of the United States, residing at the city of St. Louis, Stateof Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inApparatus for Supplying Paper to Printing-Presses, of which thefollowing is a specification.

In printing establishments, whenever it is necessary to replenish thefeed-board of a printing-press with paper, it is customary for thepressfeeder to do so, which necessitates him going down from hisplatform to procure a quantity of paper near his machine or elsewhere,then carrying the paper up to his platform, and placing same in positionupon the feed-board, all of which consumes much of the press-feederstime. This objectionable feature is obviated by the present inventionwhich has for its primary object to provide an improved apparatus forreplenishing a printing-press with paper, whereby it is unnecessary forthe pressfeeder to stop his work or to leave his platform.

With this object in view, the present in vention consists in theprovision of an improved apparatus .for accomplishing the desiredpurpose, which includes an apparatus for hoisting a roll of paper to thefeed boa rd, and an apparatus for supporting the roll of paper at oradjacent to the rear end of the feed-board, the supporting apparatusbeing adapted not only to support the roll of paper and to keep same ina roll, but, also, when operated by the pressfeeder, to shift the rollof paper forwardly upon the feed-board and subsequently to unroll same.

Further, the present invention consists of the novel features ofconstruction and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully describedand pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings forming wart of this specification in whichlike numlGl'S of reference denote like parts whenever they occur, Figure1 is a rear elevation of a printing-press, showing an apparatusembodying the present invention in conjunction therewith; Fig. 2 is arear elevation of the printing-press, showing the paper supporting and.unrolling apparatus in conjunction therewith; Fig. 3 is a fragmentaryside elevation of same, showing a roll of paper held by the supportingapparatus; Fig. 4: is a similar view, showing the roll. of, paper in theposition to which same is shifted forwardly on the feed-boardpreparatory to being unrolled; Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one ofthe paper supporting brackets; Figs. 6 and 7 are side and rearelevations, respectively, of the paper supporting and unrollingapparatus, showing an alternate form of means for operating same; Fig. 8is a rear elevation of the device forsupporting the roll of paper whilesame is being elevated to the feedboard; Fig. 9 is an end elevation ofsame; and Figs. 10 and 11 are detail views of one of the latches carriedby the paper supporting device.

The apparatus of this invention consists of the hoisting apparatus andthe paper supporting and unrolling apparatus described as follows:

The hoisting apparatus-This apparatus consists of a carriage 1 ofsuitable construction, the same being adapted to travel on a track 2 andhaving a motor 3, preferably of an electric type, mounted thereon. Thetrack 2 is supported from the ceiling 4: or other suitable support orsupports by hangers 5 or other suitable means and is arranged to extendover the rear ends of all the printing-presses 6 so' that the carriagecan be moved to a position above any one of the printing-presses. Ashaft 7, which is revolubly mounted on the carriage 1, bears a drum orpulley 8 or a plurality of suchdrums or pulleys, and is operativelyconnected with the shaft 9 of the motor 3 through the medium of a worm10 and worm-gear 11 or other suitable means, so as to receive its powerfrom the motor. For the purpose of illustration, a pair of drums 8 isshown mounted on the shaft 7, each of the former having the upper end ofa flexible element 12, such, for example, as a Wire rope or the like,fastened thereto and wound.

thereon. The lower ends of the flexible elements 12 are secured to a baror rod 13, preferably adjacent to the ends of the latter, there being,also, a pair of bands or straps 14 secured to said bar ,or rodpreferably adjacent to the ends thereof.

Each band 1 1 is preferably connected intermediate its ends to the bar13, leaving the lower end of the former preferably longer than its upperend and free to be passed around a roll of paper 15 in the mannerhereinafter described. One end of said band 14 bears a ring 16 or thelike and the other end thereof bears a device 1? by means of which saidring is releasably held after the lower end of the band has been passedaround a roll of paper 15 toform a loop in which said roll is supportedwhile being hoisted to the paper supporting and unrollingv apparatus.This device 17, as illustrated in"Fi'gs. 10 and 11, may consist of abody portion 18, which is riveted or otherwise secured to an end of theband 14 and to which a latch 19 is preferably pivotally attached at 20.spring 21 is arranged to exert its pressurev against a projection 22borne by the latch 19 and thereby to hold said projection in engagementwith a stop-pin 23, so as to hold the nose 24 of said latch normallyinposition to engage and hold the free end of'a bolt 25 and to retainsaid bolt in approximately an upright position, thereby to prevent, thering 16 from sliding off the bolt 25 after having been booked over saidbolt, which is pivoted at 26 to the body portion. An arm 27 borne.by'the latch 19 affords a means for rocking the latch to cause thelatter to release the free end of the bolt 25, whereupon said bolt rocksdownwardly and allows the ring 16 to slide off same, a cord 28 or thelike being connected to said arm to afl'orda means for actuating same.The cords 28 that are connected to the two latches19, are preferablyconnected to a cord 29 so that, when the latter is pulled, both latcheswill-be actuated to release their co-V operatingbolts 25 simultaneously.

In order to prevent the outer edge of the sheets of paper in a roll 15from flopping about and becoming torn or folded, each band 1ft may beprovided with a spacer 30, which has a concaved end 31 adapted to fitagainst the convex surface of the roll, and a convexed end 32 adapted tofit against the concave side of the innermost sheet of paper adjacent tothe outer edge of the latter,

1 thereby' to hold the outer edges of the sheets of paper in spacedrelation to the body portion of the roll and, also, against the bands14, as shown in Fig. 9, said spacer being suspended from the band 14: bya strap or cord :33 or, other suitable means.

Thepaper is loaded on a truck 34 or other suitable conveyance so thatthe sheets lie flatly in a pile on the latter, and the truck is moved toa position in the rear of the j printing-press, as shown in Fig. 1. Whenit desired to raise a roll of paper to the paper, supporting andunrolling apparatus of the printing-press, the pressv supplier moves thecarriage 1 along the track 2 to a position over .the'rear end of theprintingpress, as depicted'in Fig. 1,-by pulling same with the flexibleelements 12 or in any other ner. The resssupplier then makes a ll 1519qu y of s e of p pe at thetop of the pile on the truck 34, and p assesrthelower ends ofthebands it underear the 11. 1 rmi loops to pp saidroll and then hooking the rings 16 on the bolts 25 and rocking thelatter upwardly until their free ends are caught and held inapproximately an upright position by their coiiperating latches 19,after which the spacers 30 are placed in their proper positions toprevent the outer edges of the sheets of paper from becoming torn orfolded. The press supplier then sets the motor 3 in operation by meansof any well known remote control system of connections (not shown) tocause said motor to rotate the shaft 7 in the proper direction to causethe flexible elements 12 to wind on the drums 8, thereby raising the bar13 and the bands 14, which, in turn, raise the roll 15 to a positionabove the paper supporting and unrolling apparatus, whereupon the motoris stopped and its direction of rotation rcversed to allow the flexiblemembers 12 to unwind from the drums S, in order to lower the roll 15sufliciently to deposit same upon the paper supporting and unrollingapparatus. After the paper supporting and unrolling apparatus is set incondition to hold the roll 15, the cord 29 is pulled, causing the cords28 to actuate the latches 19, which, in turn, release the bolts 25 andthereby allow the rings 16 to become detached from said bolts, afterwhich the bar 13 can be raised as hereinabove described to ren'iove thebands 14 and the spacers 30 from engagement with the roll 15, leavingthe latter held by the paper supporting and unrolling apparatus and theouter edges of the sheets of paper extending forwardly over the rear endof the feed-board 35 of the printing-press. The press supplier thenmoves the carriage 1 and the truck 35 to another printing-press thatrequires a roll of paper in its paper supporting and unrolling apparatusand repeats the operations hereinabove described.

It should be understood that while it is preferable to use an electricmotor 3 to operate the shaft 7 for the purpose of raising and loweringthe bar 13 and the bands 14:, yet, if desired, said motor may bedispensed with and the shaft 7 may be operated by any other suitablepower device, such, for example, as a chain-hoist or the like (not shownin the drawings).

The paper supporting and unrolling apparatus.This apparatus preferablyconsists of a pair of supporting members 36,

which members are bolted or otherwise secured to the frame 37 of theprinting-press 6 at the sides of the latter and extend beyond the rearend of the feed-board 35, a shaft 38, which extends transversely of therear end of the printing-press, being journaled in bearings in the rearends of said members. The shaft 38 bears an arm 39 or a plurality ofsuch arms and, also, a pair of arms 40, the arms 40 being preferablylocated at or adjacent to the ends of said shaft and the arm or arms 39being located intermediate the arms 40. Preferably, three arms 39 arerigidly mounted on the shaft 38 and are arranged in spaced relationdirectly behind the rear end of the feed-board 35. Each arm 39 ispreferably arcuated to extend upwardly and forwardly from the shaft 38andhas the rear end of a shoe 41 pivotally attached to the free endthereof by a pin 42 or other suitable means. The forward end of saidshoe rests normally on the rear end of a bracket 43, which is secured tothe rear end of the feed-board 35 by a bolt 44 or other suitable means,there being preferably as many brackets 43 as arms 39 and said bracketsbeing located directly in front of the arms 39, respectively. The rearend portion of each bracket 43 extends beyond the rear end of thefeed-board and slopes upwardly, being preferably bifurcated so that,when the shaft 38 is rocked in the manner hereinafter described to movethe arms 39 forwardly, each arm 39 will pass between the prongs 45 ofthe bracket 43 directly in front of same. Said bracket 43 has awedge-shaped portion 46, which extends forwardly a short distance uponthe feed-board 35, the upper surface 47 of this wedge-shaped portionbeing arranged to slope upwardly and rearwardly, making an obtuse anglewith the sloping upper surface of each prong 45, in which obtuse anglethe roll 15 of paperis deposited in the manner hereinabove described, sothat said roll will rest partly upon the prongs 45 and partly upon thesloping surface 47 I as best seen in Fig. 3. The front of each shoe 41is preferably concave as indicated at 48 to conform approximately to thecurvature of the roll 15 as depicted in Figs. 3 and 4.

A shaft 49 connects the shoes 41 and is revolubly supported thereby,each end of the former bearing a handle or arm 50,

which affords a means for rocking same.

Said shaft 49 has a plurality of arcuate hook-like arms 51 rigidlymounted thereon, said arms preferably corresponding in numher to theshoes 41 and being located in substantially the same Vertical planesthere with. The end of each arm 51 that is secured to the shaft 49 ispreferably bifurcated and arranged so that the prongs 52 thereofstraddle the shoe 41 in the same plane therewith. By this arrangement,when the shaft 49 is rocked to move the arms 51 rearwardly, the back ofthe arms 51 will not only engage the tops of the shoes 41, respectively,and thereby limit such rearward movement, but, also, will rest upon thetops of said shoes, so as to stand substantially upright, as depicted indotted lines, Fig. 6, to allow a roll 15 of paper to be deposited uponthe brackets 43 as hereinabove described. Immediately after a roll 15 ofpaper has been deposited upon the brackets 43 and before the ends of thebands 14 have been detached to re lease said roll, the shaft 49 isrocked by means of either of the handles 50 thereon to move the arms 51forwardly, causing the latter to hook over the roll 15 without engagingthe outer edges of the paper. When the bands 14 are removed from theroll 15 as hereinabove described, the outer edges of the paper fallforwardly upon the sloping surfaces 47 of the brackets 43, and the arms51 retain the remaining portions of the sheets in the roll 15, as shownin Fig. 3, upon the brackets 43, where said roll remains until the shaft38 is rocked by the press-feeder in the manner hereinafter described tomove the arms 39 forwardly. Forward movement of the arms 39 slides theshoes 41 forwardly upon the brackets 43 and thereby causes the shoes 41to move the roll 15 forwardly to approximately a position shown indotted lines, Fig. 4, during which movement the arms 51 prevent the rollfrom rolling. Reverse movement of the shaft 38 moves the arms 39 and theshoes 41 rearwardly to their normal position, causing the arms 50 tounroll or nearly unroll the paper (depending upon the length of thepaper), after which the press-feeder adjusts the paper in its properposition on the feed-board.

As a means for rocking the shaft 38, a pair of reciprocatory members 53is pro vided, said members being reciprocatively supported in guides 54borne by the members 36. The rear end of eachmember extends beyond therear end of the feedboard 35 and is preferably bifurcated to. receivethe end of an arm 51. between its prongs 55, the latter being connectedby a pin 56 which extends through a slot 57 in said arm. Each member 53is adapted to reciprocate forwardly and rearwardly of the machine and isheld normally in and returned to its rearmost position by means of aspring 58, the rearward movement of said member being limited by theengagement of the enlarged forward end 59 thereof with a guide 54, asdepicted in Fig. 3. The enlarged forward end 59 of said member 53 bearsa pin 60 which projects into a slot 61 in an arm 62 of a bell-crank 63,which is mounted on a pin 64, the v ported. in the frame 37 of theprinting-press and, also, in a bracket 65, which is bolted or otherwisesecured to said frame. The other arm 66 of said bell-crank is pivotallyeon neoted at 67 to the upper end of a depress].- ble link 68, whichbears a foot-lever 69, by means of which same may be operated by thefoot of the press-feeder, the lower end ofsa-id linlrbeing pivotallyconnected at 70 to an. arm 7 borne by the shaft 72; The

latter being supshaft 72 is arranged to extend transversely of the rearend of the machine and is journaled in bearings 73, which are bolted orotherwise secured to the frame 37 of the machine. By reason ofduplicating the arm 4.0, member 53, spring 58, bell-crank 63, link 68,and arm 71 at the sides of the machine, the press-feeder can effect theoperation of the shaft 38 from either side of the machine while standingon the platform 74 adjacent thereto, and'the power applied to the arms40 on shaft 38 is equalized.

Whenever the feed-board requires more paper, the press-feeder, whilestanding on either platform 74: of his machine, presses downwardly withhis foot upon the footlever 69 near him, whereby the link 68 bear- I ingsaid foot-lever descends and causes the arm 71 connected thereto to rockthe shaft 72 counterclockwise, Fig. 3, with the result that the otherarm 71 borne by shaft 72 draws the other link 68 downwardly. This rocksboth bell-cranks 63 in the direction to. cause their arms 62 to move themembers 53 forwardly, causing the arms 40 to rock the shaft 38 in thedirection to cause the arms 39 to shift the roll 15 of paper forwardly,as hereinabove described, until said members 53 reach the limit of theirforward movement, which occurs when the bifur cated end of said members53 engage the rearmost guides 54, as shown in Fig. 4. The press-feederthen releases the depressed foot-lever (i9 and thereby allows thesprings 58 to restore the members 53 and parts connected therewith totheir initial position,

whereby the arms 51 unroll or nearly unroll the sheets of paper in saidroll 15, after which the pressfeeder shifts the paper to its properposition on the feed-board and continues to feed the press. In this way,the press-feeder replenishes the feed-board with paper in a relativelyshorter time than heretofore and without the necessity of leaving hisplatform.

If desired, he foot-power mechanism fol rocking the bell-cranks 63 maybe dispensed with anda hand-power mechanism of any suitableconstruction, such, for example as depicted in Figs. 6 and 7, may besubstituted therefor. In this event, the pins 6-'.-; and brackets 65 areomitted entirely, and the bell-cranks 63 are rigidly mounted on ashaft'75, the latter extending transversely of the rear end ofthemachine and being journaled in the frame 37. The arm 66 of eachbell-crank 63 is made longer and has a handle 76 secured thereto toafford a means for rocking the shaft 75, thereby to actuate the members53 as hereinabove described. Furthermore, if desired, any suitableelectric or other power device (not shown) may be employed to effect therocking of the shaft 38 for the purpose hereinabove de scribed. g i vVarious changes in the details of construction and arrangement of partsmay be made without departing from the nature and spirit of the presentinvention.

I claim:

1. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination with aprintingpress, of paper supporting means located at the rear end of thefeed-board of the press, means associated therewith for moving the paperforwardly on the feed-board, and means carried by said moving means fornormally retaining the paper in a roll upon said supporting means andoperative by said moving means to unroll the paper.

2. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination with aprinting press, of paper supporting means located at the rear end of thefeed-board of the press, means associated therewith for moving the paperforwardly on the feed-board, means carried by said moving means fornormally retaining the paper in a roll upon said supporting means andoperative by said moving means'to unroll the paper, and means operativeby the press-feeder for actuating said moving means.

3. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination with aprintingpress, of paper supporting means located at the rear end of thefeed-board of the press, means associated therewith for moving the paperforwardly on the feed-board, means carried by said moving means fornormally retaining the paper in a roll upon said supporting means andoperative by said moving means to unroll the paper, means in connectionwith said retaining and unrolling means for rendering same inoperative,and means operative by the press-feeder for actuating said moving means.

4. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination with aprintingpress, of paper supporting means located at the rear end of thefeed-board of the press, means associated therewith for moving the paperforwardly on the feed-board, reciprocatory means adapted to actuate saidmoving means, and rocking means adapted to actuate said reciprocatorymeans.

5. In an'apparatus of the character described, the combination with aprintingpress, of paper supporting means located at the rear end of thefeed-board of the press, means associated therewith for moving the paperforwardly on the feed-board, reciprocatory means adapted to actuate saidmoving means, rocking means adapted to actuate said reciprocatory means,and depressible means operative by the press-feeder adapted to actuatesaid rocking means.

6. In an apparatus of the character de scribed, the combination with aprintingpress, of paper supporting means located at the rear end of thefeed-board of the press, rocking means, and means operative by saidrocking means adapted to slide upon said supporting means to move thepaper forwardly on the feed-board.

7. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination with aprintingpress, of paper supporting means located at the rear end of thefeed-board of the press, rocking means, means operative by said rockingmeans adapted to slide upon said supporting means to move the paperforwardly .on the feed-board, and means car ried by said sliding meansfor normally retaining the paper in a roll upon said sup porting meansand operative by said sliding means to unroll the paper.

8. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination with aprintingpress, of paper supporting means located at the rear end of thefeed-board of the press, rocking means, means operative by said rockingmeans adapted toslide upon said supporting means to move the paperforwardly on the feed-board, means carried by said sliding means fornormally retaining the paper in a roll upon said supporting means andoperative by said sliding means to unroll the paper, andreciprocatorymeans adapted to actuate said rocking means.

9. In an apparatus of the character de scribed, the combination with aprinting press, of paper supporting means located at the rear end of thefeed-board of the press, rocking means, means operative by said rockingmeans adapted to slide upon said supporting means to move the paperforwardly on the feed-board, means carried by said sliding means fornormally retaining the paper in a roll upon said supporting means andoperative by said sliding means to unroll the paper, reciprocatory meansadapted to actuate said rocking means, and rocking means adapted toactuate said reciprocating means.

10. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination with aprintingpress, of paper supporting means located at the rear end of thefeed-board of the press, rocking means, means operative by said rockingmeans adapted to slide upon said supporting means to move the paperforwardly on the feed-board, means carried by said sliding means fornormally retaining the paper in a roll upon said supporting means andoperative by said sliding means to unroll the paper, reciprocatory meansadapted to actuate said rocking means, rocking means adapted to actuatesaid reciprocating means, and means operative by the pr ss-feeder foractuating said lastmentioned rocking means.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aiiiX my signature in the presence oftwo Witnesses.

CHARLES DOWN EY LYON.

Witnesses: HARRY H. Rniss,

WALTER C. GUELs.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

